Bourses were depressed on Monday as the continued rise in coronavirus cases in India and abroad overshadowed any optimism generated by the measures announced by the government and the RBI last week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled over 1375 points and the NSE Nifty fell 379.15 points as the rising number of cases led to apprehensions that amid a global recession, economic growth in India could also take a major hit.

While some economists have already projected that India’s GDP could contract in the April-June quarter, Standard & Poor’s in a report again cut India’s GDP forecast for the next fiscal to 3.5 per cent from its earlier estimate of 5.2 per cent.

Fitch Solutions slashed its estimate for India’s GDP growth in the fiscal starting April 1 to 4.6 per cent and India Ratings and Research, too, revised its 2020-21 GDP growth forecast down to 3.6 per cent from 5.5 per cent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had on Friday said the world has entered a recession as bad or worse than in 2009.

According to Siddhartha Khemka of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, while the coordinated stimulus action from governments around the world has offered some respite, the volatility in the market is likely to continue as there is no certainty as to how long the problem will persist and its repercussions on the economy.

Market circles added that while domestic investors are staying in the sidelines fearing more fall ahead, the foreign portfolio investors continue with their sales. Provisional data on Monday showed that they sold Rs 4,300 crore worth of domestic stocks. So far this year, they have sold more than Rs 44,000 crore of stocks. However, their sales in the bond markets have been much higher at Rs 68,000 crore.

On Monday, the BSE Sensex resumed lower at 29226.55 and hit a day’s low of 28290.99 before closing at 28440.32, a drop of 1375.27 points or 4.61 per cent.

“Indian markets started the week on a negative note tracking volatile global cues in Asian markets,” said Narendra Solanki at Anand Rathi.

Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services pointed out that the markets have set aside the stimulus measures announced by the RBI and the government, and focused on the rising virus infections and its impact on the Indian economy.